Research
Original SEO research from my own sites
Every study here uses data I collected myself, and each one shows its sample, window and headline figure up front.
- Studies
- 12
- Catalogued items
- 21
- Last checked
- SEO experimentsA dated register of tests on my own sites, with what I changed and when I check.
- Data catalogue26 files with window, sample, exclusions, licence and citation text.
- MethodologyHow I pull, check and restate the numbers.
- Editorial policyWho writes, what is mine, and how I correct mistakes.
Recurring study
I add a row each time Google confirms a core or spam update.
Headline figure
35 of 57
eligible sites rose by 20% or more after the September 2026 spam update
- Date
- , updated
- Window
- Every confirmed core and spam update from June 2025 to September 2026. Each compares 14 days before with 14 days that start 7 days after the rollout ends.
- Sample
- 100 owned Search Console properties. Between 9 and 66 are eligible per update. Rows with fewer than 30 sites show counts only.
- Note
- I add a row about four weeks after Google marks an update complete. The same page holds a 21-site table of four unexplained drops between 20 June and 15 September 2026.
- Download
- No file. The tables are on the study page.
Original studies
Newest first. Each describes my own sites or my own pulls, and none describes the web.
Headline figure
69.8%
of clicks from visible queries came from queries of 4 words or more
- Date
- Window
- 30 October 2025 to 29 October 2026
- Sample
- 97 of 100 owned sites returned query rows. 223,218 query rows in total.
- Download
- No file. The tables are on the study page.
Headline figure
87.9%
median share of pages with impressions that got zero clicks in 12 months
- Date
- Window
- 30 October 2025 to 29 October 2026
- Sample
- 100 owned sites with Search Console data. Site medians use the 84 sites with 10 or more pages with impressions.
- Download
- No file. The tables are on the study page.
Headline figure
83 and 81
mobile Lighthouse medians for Vercel and Workers on the homepage, with applied throttling
- Date
- Window
- 28 September 2026
- Sample
- One site on two hosts. Five Lighthouse runs per host, device and page, and 30 timed requests per host and path.
- Download
- No file. The tables are on the study page.
Headline figure
28 of 37
owned properties had zero multimodal impressions
- Date
- , updated
- Window
- Launch-week check. The client comparison uses 10 to 25 September 2026.
- Sample
- 46 accessible properties: 37 owned and 9 client. Client sites are anonymised and none is named.
- Download
- No file. The tables are on the study page.
Headline figure
1.84%
of sessions came from five AI assistants (6,165 of 334,744)
- Date
- , updated Edition 2. Edition 1 came out on 2 August 2026.
- Window
- 24 June to 21 September 2026
- Sample
- 108 owned GA4 properties. 104 recorded sessions in the window.
Headline figure
47.8%
of usable queries showed a Google AI Overview (188 of 393)
- Date
- Window
- One snapshot, 25 September 2026
- Sample
- A locked panel of 399 UK queries across 10 sectors. 393 returned usable data.
Headline figure
31
unique referring domains held by 5 stats and data pages, against 24 across 21 other pages
- Date
- Window
- Snapshot on 24 September 2026. The anchor review covers the 12 months to that date.
- Sample
- Every page with a referring domain on sunnypatel.co.uk. A frozen panel of 28 owned sites for the anchor review.
Headline figure
2.1%
of sessions came from AI assistants (3.4% without one site with anomalous traffic)
- Date
- , updated
- Window
- 21 June to 18 September 2026
- Sample
- 20 owned GA4 sites out of around 115 properties, the figure the study page gives. Not a random sample.
- Note
- The AI referral traffic study above uses a larger frame and a fixed matching rule.
- Download
- No file. The tables are on the study page.
Headline figure
31 of 44
audited sites had index bloat
- Date
- , updated
- Window
- 28-day Search Console pulls. The page dates each one.
- Sample
- 44 owned sites audited. The traffic update covers about 100 properties.
- Download
- No file. The tables are on the study page.
Headline figure
£497 a month
median entry-level retainer across 61 providers
- Date
- , updated
- Window
- 24 to 25 September 2026
- Sample
- 75 UK providers that publish their own price, from 150 UK provider sites screened.
Withdrawn
I keep withdrawn work online, marked, so you can see what changed.
Google CTR by position
WithdrawnHeadline figure
Withdrawn
the portfolio CTR figures were withdrawn on 25 September 2026 and should not be cited
- Date
- , updated
- Window
- 9 April to 7 July 2026
- Sample
- 53 Search Console properties in a convenience portfolio.
Reference lists
A reference list is a working tool I version and publish. It is not a study and has no headline figure.
The AI referral sources list for GA4 is version 1.0, dated 2 November 2026, and its JSON file is in the data catalogue.
Where are the statistics roundups?
They are in the statistics library, whose figures mostly come from other organisations. That library also lists several of my own studies.
The statistics hub lists them with the source and date of each figure.
Want this kind of check on your own site? The free 20-minute diagnosis is at /contact/.